An American mom and her three children made a perilous overland trip to a neighboring country to escape the Taliban after being left behind by Joe Biden’s state department. The state department immediately took credit for the rescue operation.
In a statement, one U.S. official said “We have facilitated the departure of four American citizens from Afghanistan via an overland route. Our Embassy greeted the Americans as they crossed the border into the third country.”
The problem with that statement is that it is total fiction. The Biden administration is actively working with the Taliban to prevent private rescues of U.S. citizens. David Rohde, the executive editor at The New Yorker said that “It is the State Department and the White House” holding up the planes. He explained that the civilian effort has been “far more ambitious, far more dynamic and far more successful than what the administration has been doing,” according to Fox News.
The real story is that the American mother, a woman known as Mariam, and her three children tried and failed to evacuate the country by plane at two different airports. Each time the family tried to leave, the Taliban blocked their exit. The last time they tried to leave via airplane, a Taliban soldier stuck his gun in her face and told her not to come back.
Learning of their plight, Rep. Ronny Jackson contacted a privately funded group, led by special forces vet Cory Mill, to guide Mariam and her children to safety.
After 2 weeks & multiple life threatening attempts, I am overjoyed to share that 4 U.S. citizens from #TX13 were part of the first successful ground evacuation since the U.S. left Kabul. Thank you to Cory Mills & the other patriots on his team for saving these BRAVE Americans! pic.twitter.com/1Tv9KRUgcE
— Ronny Jackson (@RepRonnyJackson) September 6, 2021
The way Mills tells it, the state department has no business taking credit for anything.
Plan B was to get Miriam and her family aboard a private charter flight from Mazar-i-Sharif airport, but the planes were never cleared to take off. Some private evacuation organizers have blamed the State Department for failing to gain clearance for private charter flights to land in third countries, while Republican Texas Rep. Michael McCaul has blamed the Taliban for the planes remaining grounded.
Mills’ final card to play was to travel overland to a neighboring country – the exact country is being withheld to avoid jeopardizing future rescue missions – and attempt to get the family across the border.
It took multiple attempts and sleight-of-hand tactics that Mills compared to a shell game, but Mariam’s family finally crossed the border on Monday – just before the Taliban closed the checkpoint to prevent Americans from escaping, Mills said.
Mills told Fox News that the state department’s public posture on the rescue is “absolute nonsense.”
“The fact that they’re spinning this, trying to take 100% credit when they didn’t track this family, when they placated this family, when the mother, who was under extreme stress and extreme pressure, reached out to the State Department multiple times and got no help.”
A State Department spokesperson, when asked whether the agency is overselling its role in Mariam’s rescue, told Fox News in an email: “The Department assisted four Americans depart Afghanistan via an overland route on Monday. We provided guidance to them, worked to facilitate their safe passage, and Embassy officials greeted the Americans once they had crossed the border.”
But Mills and others with knowledge of the operation say the State Department is exaggerating its role and had little to do with the rescue mission until the most dangerous part – getting Mariam and her children across the border – was completed.
This is an issue that won’t go away. It will dog Joe Biden for the remainder of his presidency. Despite constant assurances by the White House, the state department, and the Pentagon that Americans are free to leave at any time, the fact is, the administration is working hand-in-glove with the Taliban to prevent private U.S. citizens from leaving because the president’s people want to tightly control narrative surrounding the evacuation.
Only Joe Biden-approved rescues will be authorized.
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